A grammar and dialect study of Kewa, New Guinea

Abstract

The thesis divides naturally into three parts: (1) a general and theoretical orientation, given in Chapters 1 and 7; (2) the dialect study, given in Chapter 8 and (3) the grammar proper, which is outlined in Chapters 2 through 6, describing the dialect of West Kews. The theoretical model employed throughout the grammar is tamemios. Chapter 1 describes the basic tenets of the theory, as well as recent criticisms and revisions of it. The functional role of tagmemes at various levels is emphasised in the grammar, rather than the various classes and subclasses of forms which may occur as exponents at such levels. The presentation has benefitted from the works of S.C. Dik (1968) and A;L. Becker (1967a 1967b), who also emphasize function in a grammar. Chapter 1 also briefly describes the Kewa area and previously published materials in East Kewa. Chapter 7 describes the type of rule format which a tagmemic grammar sub as this one might employ. In so doing the dual nature of the tagmeme (function and set, or slot and class) is made explicit by two main kinds of rules: those which apply to functions on the one hand and those which apply to categories on the other. Chapter 8 describes the dialects of Kewa by means of phonological isoglosses, word geography, and distributional facts, the latter which relate to both grammar and culture. All of these points are in turn summarised by maps. The languages, are also compared lexicostatistically with the Kewa dialect closest to them. Chapter 2 summarises tagmemic phonology and then briefly outlines West Kewa phonology and some general tone perturbation patterns. Chapter 3 describes word classes and word patterns. Although there is a clear division between verbs and non-verbs, other classes of words are less relevant. This is especially so because of derivational patterns. Chapter 4 describes four basic clause types: intransitive, complementive, transitive, and derived transitive. The functional points in clauses are limited: Subject, Object, Complement, Predicate, and Adjunct. Each of these grammatical functions have a variety of co-functions, often marked overtly, which occur with them. Some examples are: Agent, Location, Direction, Topic, Goal, and Recipient. Characteristics of conjoining and embedding at each function point is also included. Chapter 5 describes two main nominal phrase types (descriptive and possessive) and also verbal phrase types, e.g. purposive and gerundive. Chapter 6 describes several major sentence types in Kewa: Coordinate, Causal, Antithetical, Alternative, Thematic, and Quotative. Coordinate sentences are the most varies and include the description of what is commonly known in New Guinea languages as "medial" and "final" verb actions, as well as certain time relationships which apply between them.